Sunday Vacation

Sunday morning...husband's fast asleep recovering from a night of revelry filled with family, a special birthday, and a little dancing. The stillness of the morning is a stark contrast to the energy and music of last night...this morning is almost like a deep well of hidden possibilities just waiting to be unearthed. Small adventures to be squeezed into 24 hours (or less, actually since we do need to sleep eventually this evening)
    I have my tentative itinerary in place in my mind; the places in my mental list are almost like a mini vacation, a visit to other times and cultures.

    I grew up Catholic but was born much too late to have experienced The Latin Mass In fact, it's been a while since I've visited church but this post has more to do with another time and place.....I have attended the Latin Mass in the past and out of all of the church services I have been to, this one is without a doubt one of the most sacred and ethereal services I have ever experienced. There have been books written just about the way a traditional gothic church is set up and the symbolism that lies within each and every crevice, every statue, every wood carving...and when the mass begins, an ethereal voice floats through the air almost as if hidden angels came to witness the sacredness and began to sing, the priest chants and prays in traditional Latin as the air fills with the heady aroma of incense burning....its a transportation to another time, another place with a sense of stillness and sacredness; a sense of true holiness; a sense that miracles are possible and God is actually present....
    I am craving that beauty and sacredness, I am craving my visit with God

    This is what I envision for my morning, then since we have made the trip to "the east side" and we are so near to little China, our second stop will be The Chinese Grocery Store. I love this place! Stepping from an anient Gothic Catholic Mass through the portal it's like stepping into a bit of Asia. The store shelves are lined with foreign (at least to me) ingredients written in another language.

The fresh meat and seafood section is fascinating to me....

...heads still left on the chickens, seafood in the open air....

....the air in the store is heady with foreign scents and spices, as well as a lingering odor I can only imagine is from a far away sea in all its briny gloriousness (read: very pungeant). My first trip to the store left me with a bottle of authentic soy sauce. I realize that was not too adventur-ish but this time, I have a list...ingredients for a soup I am fascinated with and with expand more on that in another post but for now, tamarind, curry paste, chili peppers, lemon grass, shrimp paste all very reasonable priced just waiting for me to find them hiding amoungst so many new and wonderful flavor adventures.. ....
    Then once we make it back to our portal (that happens to be a Nissan) we'll be transported back to our familiar world and arrive home just in time to enjoy a quick breakfast/brunch and a citrus-y smoothie...

a little sliced orange, a sliced banana, some frozen mango, some orange juice, a bit of coconut milk, fresh yogurt, some honey and a few ice cubes...yum!

The flu season has arrived in epidemic proportions so as an extra boost to our immune system and also because it's the perfect, refreshing smoothie for Sunday afternoon, it disappeared very quickly.
 And now for the rest of the day!

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